What is the difference between occupational and physical therapy?

Occupational and Physical Therapist help those people that have lost the ability to do simple everyday tasks possibly from suffering a stroke or car accident. Occupational Therapist help others by working on tasks such as picking a pencil off of a table, buttoning a shirt, pouring water into a glass. It is more of teaching your brain how to do these tasks that it has forgotten for whatever reason. Physical Therapist work more on the body, strengthening muscles or reteaching those muscles how to work so they are once again useful to the patient.

Occupational Therapy actually addresses the person from a holistic approach. O.T. focuses on restoring/adapting/compensatin... to allow a person to participate in all of their occupational roles (mother, father, teacher, homemaker, etc...) with the highest level of independence possible. Report It

My experience has shown the OT focuses on the upper body while PT focuses on the legs

In a hospital setting:
Occupational therapy works with ADL's (activities of daily living) like eating, dressing and bathing.
Physical therapy works with basics such as getting in/out of bed, transferring to a chair, walking and stairs.

Occupational therapy-Skilled treatment to help individuals develop, regain, or maintain the skills necessary to participate in all facets of their lives. "Skills for the job of living" necessary for living meaningful and satisfying lives.

Physical therapy-Provision of services to people and populations to develop, maintain, and restore maximum movement and functional ability throughout the lifespan. Physical therapy includes the provision of services in circumstances where movement and function are threatened by the process of aging or that of injury or disease.